Posts Tagged → apple silicon

Celebrating the M1 Chip

Five years ago, Apple released the first M1 Macs. It’s hard to overstate how significant that moment was, not just for what it delivered technically, but for what it meant about Apple’s commitment to the Mac. Because the years leading up to that launch were rough.

The butterfly keyboard was a disaster. Not just for its initial failure, but also for Apple’s slow response and eventual correction. There was also way too much thermal throttling. Most frustrating was the long delays between updates that delivered the smallest incremental improvements (and more butterfly keyboards).

It felt like Apple had lost the plot on what made the Mac great in the first place. A lot of us wondered if Apple still understood the Mac, or if it had become an afterthought to the iPhone business.

Then the M1 arrived, and everything changed. I remember the jump from my last Intel Mac to that first Apple Silicon machine. It was one of those rare, obvious leaps you don’t see often in computing anymore. Like going from a spinning hard drive to an SSD. The speed, the battery life, the silence. It wasn’t just faster.

It was fundamentally different. Better in ways that affected every single interaction with the machine.

Five years later, Apple is still nailing it with the Mac. The MacBook Air is shockingly capable. The MacBook Pro is genuinely pro again. The Mac Studio and Mac Mini are giving people exactly what they need for desktop workflows. The only outlier is the Mac Pro, which feels adrift right now. But otherwise? The Mac lineup is in better shape than it’s ever been. And it all traces back to that decision to take control of the silicon.

What’s remarkable is that Apple doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The M5 family is just starting to arrive, and it’s another meaningful step forward. These machines keep getting more powerful while staying power efficient and cool.

The Mac isn’t just recovered from those dark days. It’s thriving. Five years in, Apple Silicon still feels like the beginning of something rather than a finished story.

The Mac’s Gaming Moment Still Isn’t Here

Quinn Nelson recently did a solid job of breaking down the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the Mac. If you’re not tracking these things, that’s a big deal: it’s a flagship AAA game that released on the Mac the same day as on other platforms. That kind of same-day launch is rare for the Mac.

So I bought the game. Not because I’m a hardcore Assassin’s Creed fan (though who doesn’t want to sneak around feudal Japan?), but because I was curious. How would it perform on my M2 Max Mac Studio?

The answer: not great.

Actually, worse than not great. The frame rate was inconsistent, often dipping well below 30 frames-per-second when the environment got the least bit complex. There were moments where the game froze entirely. I went through every resolution and graphics setting, from high to medium to low. I even dropped it all the way down to 720p with the lowest possible settings, and it was still unplayable. Perhaps this is because I use a Pro Display XDR? The above screenshot is what my screen looked like often while trying it out.

This is the first time I’ve ever requested a refund on a Mac app.

I want to root for Apple’s gaming ambitions. The company has been talking more about bringing serious titles to the Mac, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows looked like a step in the right direction. But if Apple wants to make a credible push into AAA gaming, they’ve still got a lot of work to do, both on the software optimization side and with developer support.

Why the C1 Chip Matters More Than You Think

The iPhone 16e launch last week came with an understated but significant advancement: Apple’s new C1 communications chip. This custom silicon represents years of development, finally replacing the Qualcomm modem that has powered iPhone communications for generations.

For Apple, this marks another crucial step toward complete vertical integration of their hardware stack.

Developing a communications chip for the iPhone was no small achievement. It required extensive research, testing, and regulatory compliance – which explains why Apple has taken their time getting it right. Seeing the C1 chip finally shipping in a real iPhone feels like a significant milestone in Apple’s silicon journey.

However, the real test lies in its performance. Even those not interested in the iPhone 16e will be watching closely to see how well it handles its core function as a cellular device. Apple appears to have made a strategic decision by debuting the C1 in a lower-volume iPhone model, allowing them to gather real-world data and refine the technology before implementing it in the mainstream iPhone 17 and 17 Pro models.

Looking ahead, the C1 chip opens up intriguing possibilities for Apple’s broader ecosystem. Now that they’ve developed their own communications silicon, the natural question becomes: when will we see the C1 make its way into the Mac lineup? With Qualcomm out of the picture, I feel that is much more likely.

The New Mac mini & iMac Lineup

This week, Apple introduced a wave of M4 Macs, bringing some exciting updates.

New iMacs

The M4-powered iMacs come in refreshed colors: orange, blue, green, yellow, pink, purple, and silver, each with matching accessories. Apple’s design flexibility shows, though it makes the grayscale of other devices feel more mundane. The iMac lineup now starts with 16GB of memory, upgradeable to 32GB, and offers four Thunderbolt 4 ports in high-end models. A $200 Nano-texture glass option is also available.

The New Mac mini

Compact yet powerful, the new Mac mini now includes M4 and M4 Pro chips in a 5×5 inch (12.7×12.7 cm) frame, with support for Thunderbolt 5. Configurable with up to 64GB of memory, with two front-facing USB-C ports, it starts at $599 — a stellar value.

These new Macs are inspiring. The iMac colors are tempting, even if not quite my fit, and the compact Mac mini with front-facing ports will likely become a popular desktop choice.

Does iPad (and Mac) Reliability Explain Slowing Upgrade Cycles?

Apple didn’t release any new iPad hardware this year, but according to Ming-Chi Kuo, that’s changing next year with iPad updates across the board, including the long-awaited OLED iPad Pro.

That’s good, and I hope that’s all true. But I also know how easy it was to go a year without iPad upgrades. I routinely hear from listeners and readers wanting to know about future iPhones and Macs. Questions about upcoming iPad hardware are a lot more rare.

To me, this is a better indicator of Apple’s success with the iPad than its failure to ship new iPad hardware in 2023. Now, the iPads are so solid and reliable that folks are waiting a long time to upgrade.

I purchased my iPad Pro in 2019. It still works great, and I don’t expect to buy an OLED iPad in 2024. For a nerd like me, four-going-on-five-year-old Apple hardware says something.

To pile onto this point (and I’ve been saying this on the podcast for a while now), I think we’ll get to the same place with the Apple silicon Macs. Apple has done an excellent job of figuring out Mac hardware, particularly with the arrival of their M-series chips. I expect we’ll be happy and hang on to them for a long time. That’s one of the reasons why I think Mac shipments (as reported by Apple last week) are down. The hardware is excellent and lasts a long time. That results in slower upgrade cycles, and that’s good!

I also expect this will be no surprise to Apple which partially explains why services are becoming such a big deal to them.

About the M3 Performance

As the MacBook Pros with M3 are hitting the wild, we are getting more data on their performance. It’s looking like a roughly 20% increase over the M2 generation. The M3 Max chip is clocking about the same speed as the M2 Ultra, which is impressive.

I did not think the succeeding generations of Apple silicon would improve that much year over year. I hope Apple can keep it up.

The 15-inch MacBook Air, Apple Silicon, and What It Means for Future Macs

This week there was an interesting interview between Inc.’s Jason Aten and Apple executives Laura Metz and Thomas Tan, as reported by Chance Miller at 9to5 Mac.

The 15-inch MacBook Air seems like a no-brainer. However, the Apple execs explained they needed Apple silicon to make it come true. They couldn’t get “Air” quality battery life and performance without Apple’s M-series chips. That makes sense for a bigger MacBook Air.

It also, however, makes sense for a smaller one. The non-Air 12” MacBook was canned before Apple’s new M-series SoC, but it seems now like that computer, an ultra-portable Mac, is more possible than ever. I can’t help but wonder if that is on the drawing board or if Apple thinks the 13-inch MacBook Air is small enough.

The Rumor Mill Winds Up Again

Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter is starting to hint at upcoming Apple products. Notable among them:

A Big iMac

An Apple silicon 30+ inch iMac may be in the works. My guess would be the love child between a souped-up Mac mini and a larger Studio Display. Now that I’ve separated my Mac from my display, this one is not for me, but if my email inbox is any indication, there are many people looking for something like this.

A Second-Generation Apple Watch

I would expect the Apple Watch Ultra to get yearly updates. I don’t see how they can keep selling them as the top-tier Apple Watch if they don’t. My wish for this product would be a smaller-sized version. I know plenty of folks with smaller wrists that would like an Apple Watch Ultra.

P.S. I love my Apple Watch Ultra.